Shane McMahon promised to deliver new tag champions on SmackDown following the Hardy Boyz relinquishing the gold last week due to Jeff Hardy’s injury and he delivered.
However, rather than a tournament (which the blue brand does not have the teams for) or even a match, Shane decided that he would simply award the belts to the “obvious” choice: Daniel Bryan and Rowan.
SAME. #SDLive #TagTeamTitles @WWEUsos @ERICKROWAN pic.twitter.com/tUl57o2v7S
— WWE Universe (@WWEUniverse) May 8, 2019
That brought out Raw stars and multiple-time SmackDown tag champions The Usos, who were unhappy that the titles they had worked so hard to build would be de-legitimised by Shane just handing them over.
They challenged Bryan and Rowan to a match for the belts, which took place immediately. Bryan and Rowan came out on top, which was perhaps a surprise and probably a duo few expected to be wearing the gold when predicting the next champions prior to the show.
#WATCHyourTOEZ and #WATCHyourTITLES, @WWEDanielBryan & @ERICKROWAN… #SDLive #TagTeamTitles @otiswwe @tuckerwwe pic.twitter.com/2b6F96Ancc
— WWE (@WWE) May 8, 2019
Quite who they will work with now it is hard to fathom. Heavy Machinery appear to be the only babyface team on the brand but with the Wildcard Rule in effect that likely does not matter. It does make one wonder that given the dearth of teams on SmackDown and with the wildcard rule enabling anyone to move at any time, whether WWE would be better off just having one set of tag belts that can be defended between the shows.
